Whitebridge, Semley,
Shaftesbury SP7 9QP
Music and Music Literature
LCAMCELLFp
CONCERNING
HYMN TUNES
AND SEQUENCES
BY
ATHELSTAN RILEY
Seigneur de la Trinite
Member of the House of Laymen of the "Province of (Canterbury
A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. LTD.
LONDON : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W.
OXFORD : 9 High Street
MILWAUKEE, U.S.A. : THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN Co.
First Impression, 1915
PUBLIC
HENRY WATSON
THE substance of this Essay has already
appeared in 'The Treasury magazine. It is
now reprinted with additional matter, partly
from a series of articles in The Sign, and
an Introduction kindly contributed by Dr.
Walford Davies.
A. R.
PREFACE
AS" appropriate hymn-tune releases and relieves our
inmost feelings, and for this it is welcome. But
often a shout or a cheer, if unanimous, will do the like,
and a tune must do more. It must stimulate the emotions
of which it is the vehicle ; more important still, it must
regulate them, otherwise it may do no good service to a
congregation, but the reverse. As a safety-valve a sweet
melody has its uses ; but in repetition it may let off
so much steam as to send congregations away enervated
instead of refreshed and invigorated. Discernment is
difficult in this matter ; distinction between the fit and
unfit tune is a delicate task. But it has to be attempted,
and especially at this juncture when old Hymnals have
disappointed many good judges, and when new Hymnals
have not altogether satisfied others.
o
To those who have had opportunity to study public
taste in hymn-tunes for any length of time, two reflections
seem to emerge : (i) A tune must at all times be pro-
foundly native to the congregation who use it ; (2) it must
sometimes be more restrained in sentiment than will at
first be popularly welcome. These may seem very obvious
truths ; but it is strange that choosers of hymn-tunes and
guides of popular taste in the matter are often in danger of
forgetting the one or the other. The two policies of
"give us that we can like" and "show us that which is
good," should be constantly in mind to temper each other.
A good moralist may exhort congregations to love that
which is good and straightway to solve the problem. But
we all know how sacred personal associations will handicap
vi PREFACE
judgements and cause people to become unreceptive and
even antagonistic to a fine new tune. Tunes must not
exhort congregations, they must win their hearts. Mr.
Athelstan Riley clearly bears all these things in mind.
He does not pretend, himself, to be superior to any
tyranny of associations. But he approaches this venerable
form of art as an enthusiast conscious of dangers and
abuses, and he keenly searches for that which is good
in every department (except perhaps the Anglican chant !),
and while he gives much information to his reader, he
will do him the still greater service of compelling him
to test his own judgement, enlarge his borders, and find
good reason for the faith that is in him. This will be the
reward especially of those whose previous bias differs from
that of the author ; and all will be helped in their search
for balance, for fitness, and for innate beauty in hymn-tunes
by the perusal of a book which, with no claim to omni-
science, fearlessly metes out praise and blame, and
enunciates at the same time principles which transcend
all blame and demolish all prejudice. The present writer
desires specially to point out two such principles (see pp.
25 and 78). The one wisely suggests that unison and
harmony have the power to " bring into relief the excel-
lences of each other " a profoundly important meeting-
ground for some quite bitter controversialists ; the other
urges that " popular tunes which are bad will fade away
before popular tunes that are good." It is surely never
the badness of the bad song that is popular, but its
momentary fitness ; nor is it the goodness of the good song
that repels the simple mind, but its unfitness to the
moment ; and herein lies a great hope.
H. W. D.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY i
II. PLAINSONG 12
III. THE FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES - 24
IV. FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES 42
V. GERMAN HYMN TUNES 5 1
VI. ENGLISH HYMN TUNES 61
VII. WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG - 72
VIII. THE SEQUENCES 88
vn
CONCERNING
HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
BY ATHELSTAN RILEY
I
INTRODUCTORY
PEAKING to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the LORD." S. Paul twice mentions hymns,
and each time in connection with psalms : in the passage
from his Epistle tp the Ephesians and again in that to
the Colossians. In the case of both there is an apparent
musical direction, pointing to some kind of antiphonal
singing. Was there any serious distinction in the Apostle's
mind between x^aX/xo? and i^vo? ? The question is not
easy to answer. Pliny, in his famous description to Trajan
of the earliest Christian worship, speaks of a carmen Christo
quasi Deo which certainly answers to a hymn, but nothing
of the kind has come down to us, and the knowledge we
possess of the earliest liturgical forms leads us to believe
that a prose ascription to the Redeemer is more likely to
have been the origin of Pliny's carmen than what we now
call a hymn.
We first get on sure ground in the third century.
</xo9 IXapov (translation : " O gladsome light," by the Poet
Laureate, E. H., No. 269; "Hail, gladdening light," by
2 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Keble, H. A. and M., No. 18 O.E. : I prefer the latter) is
certainly as old ; it may be older. In the West the earliest
use of hymns seems to have been at the tombs of the
Martyrs, on their festivals, or in outdoor processions.
Good examples of this kind of hymn may be found in the
works of Prudentius (b. A.D. 348) and S. Paulinus of Nola
(A.D. 353431). S. Paulinus wrote long hymns in honour
of S. Felix of Nola for his festival year after year. A few
stanzas from one of them is given in the English Hymnal
for a patronal festival (No. 195), and a similar hymn of
Prudentius for a martyr (No. 185). With the exception
of <a>? tXapov I know of no earlier hymns than these, and
the only contemporary hymn-writers are S. Ambrose
(A.D. 34097) in the West and S. Ephraim the Syrian
(d. A.D. 373) in the East. Some verses by S. Ephraim for a
vigil are given in the English Hymnal (No. 194). Amongst
his undoubted works there are many long poems still used
liturgically by the Syrians, but there is not much else in
what we should consider hymn form. Few hymns can
be attributed with certainty to S. Ambrose, but these are
unsurpassable. Listen to the Veni Redemptor gentium a
perfect model of what a hymn should be. l
" Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest thy virgin-birth ;
Let every age adoring fall,
Such birth befits the GOD of all.
O equal to the FATHER, thou !
Gird on thy fleshly mantle now ;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate."
1 Neale's translation with slight alteration, E. H., No. 14. Morgan's,
in H. A. and M., No. 55 O. E., is unfortunately in the wrong metre. This
is corrected in the new edition.
INTRODUCTORY 3
It is not until the sixth century that we find hymns
asserting themselves as a fully recognized part of the choir
services ; there seems to have been great unwillingness on
the part of the Early Church to bring modern compositions
into juxtaposition with the Scriptural psalms and canticles.
Strenuous opposition to the admission of hymns into divine
service shows itself in the West as late as the seventh
century, and required the sharp rebuke of the Council of
Toledo (A.D. 633). But by that time hymns of great excellence
were pouring upon the Church like a flood. Romanus,
S. Andrew of Crete, S. Cosmas, S. Germanus, S. Theo-
dore, Theophanes, Methodius, S. Joseph, S. Metrophanes,
and, above all, S. John Damascene are representatives of
the school of Greek hymnographers who wrote from the
seventh to the tenth centuries. Sedulius (c. A.D. 450) carried
on the Ambrosian tradition in the West. A salts onus
cardine is indistinguishable from an Ambrosian hymn, and
what could be more serene and beautiful ?
" From East to West, from shore to shore,
Let every heart awake and sing
The Holy Child whom Mary bore,
The CHRIST, the everlasting King.
Behold the world's Creator wears
The form and fashion of a slave ;
Our very flesh our Maker shares,
His fallen creature, man, to save."
And this translation by Ellerton (E. H., No. 18 ; H. A.
and M., No. 483 O. E.) seems to me as good and melli-
fluous a translation as it is possible to have. It is altered
for the worse in the new edition of Hymns Ancient and
Modern. It is very unfortunate that whilst the musical
side of the new edition should be so immeasurably superior
4 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
to the old the texts of the hymns, especially the translations
of those Latin office hymns which were already in the right
metre, should have been so pulled about. Venantius
Fortunatus (A.D. 530-609), the author of the famous Vexilla
Regis, I S. Gregory the Great (the hymns attributed to him
are not quite certainly his, though undoubtedly of the sixth
century), our own Bede (A.D. 6 73-73 5), 2 Rabanus Maurus,
S. Theodulph of Orleans (both of the ninth century), and
S. Fulburt of Chartres (c. 1000) lead us to the two
Bernards, of Clairvaux and Cluny, with whom we may
close our list of early writers. I have spoken of hymns in
the services of the choir. Still no hymns were admitted
into the Liturgy, or Mass, and it was not until the tenth
century that the composition called " the Sequence " was
introduced between the Epistle and the Gospel. The
development and characteristics of sequences we shall con-
sider at a later stage. So much for the history of Christian
hymnody. We shall now occupy ourselves wholly with
the music.
In considering the music of hymns, a digression is
inevitable. What is the condition of our English Church
music at the present day ? Are we to be satisfied with it ?
What of our cathedrals and the traditional " cathedral
service," the object of emulation on the part of so many
parish churches ? Are we to be content with the standard
thus set up ? In the last century I suppose he would have
1 The E. H. has Neale's translation (No. 94); H. A. and M., old
edition, Neale's translation, with alterations of the beautiful melody and
bad harmonies (No. 96). The new edition has given the music in
proper form. All the Plainsong in this book is well done.
2 Bede has been somewhat neglected in English hymn-books. Only one
of his hymns is in H. A. and M., O. E. ; another has been added in
the N. E. Three are in E. H.
been thought a bold man who prophesied that this standard
would be called in question. But now great names in the
musical world are calling for reform, and the new Roman
Catholic Cathedral at Westminster is showing to all what
a " cathedral service " can be like, which neither neglects
the old nor eschews the modern, but preserves that balance
and contrast between Plainsong and Polyphony which render
both conjoined a fitting dress for the solemn dignity of
Catholic worship. The fact that at the great festivals a
critical appreciation of the music at Westminster Cathedral
occupies so large a portion of the Times, whilst the music
of our own great metropolitan churches is very summarily
dismissed, should give us English Churchmen, and especially
those of us who are responsible for our choirs, food for
very serious reflection.
But we are concerned with hymns what is our position
with regard to these ? There are those still living who can
remember the ordinary hymnody of the Church of England
up to the year 1861, the metrical psalms of Tate and
Brady, with hardly a dozen hymns, still to be found at the
end of old Prayer Books ; I can myself, for the change was
necessarily gradual. From that tyranny, after a few pre-
liminary efforts, notably the Hymnal Noted, by other hymn-
book compilers, Hymns Ancient and Modern came to deliver
us. Before that date not only were the Church seasons
very generally neglected, but hymns of a missionary and
evangelical character were hardly known except in Non-
conformist chapels. The hymns " JESUS meek and lowly "
and "Jfisus, my LORD, my GOD, my all " were written for
use in an East-End Mission Chapel by the priest in charge
about the year 1854. The Bishop of London objected to
them as " contrary to the spirit of the Book of Common
6 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Prayer," but the priest stood out. In 1861 the hymns
were incorporated with the first edition of Hymns Ancient
and Modern ; the episcopal opposition to them has long
since died away. I had this almost incredible story from
the lips of the author himself. Of course the bishop was
right in a sense they are not liturgical hymns. But to win
the careless and recover the fallen one must wander outside
liturgical forms. We go to the other extreme nowadays,
and mission hymns with their emotional tunes may be heard
even in the solemn offices of a great choir. Truly we have
moved far from the standpoint of the fifties !
Between 1861 and 1875 Hymns Ancient and Modern
developed into the form we now know, and in 1889 the
Supplement was added as " a temporary expedient."
If we think to-day that its provision of the ancient office-
hymns was meagre, its recognition of the Communion of
Saints somewhat timid, and many of the hymns admitted
viciously sentimental, we must remember the date and
circumstances of its publication and the condition of things
from which it came to deliver us fifty years ago ; though it
be now out of date, we can never forget the services it has
rendered to the Church of England.
In the nineteenth century music in England was at a
low level, ecclesiastical musicians were caught in the stream
of bad taste, and Monk, who edited Hymns Ancient and
Modern^ was not fortunate in his composers. To them we
owe those tunes of the part-song type and the sugary trifles
which are now, alas ! so popular with the uncultivated
multitude. The good old tunes, too, were severely handled
and often completely spoilt by the alteration of their time to
suit Mid-Victorian ideas. Finally, the Plainsong emerges
in the dress bestowed upon it by an uncritical age. The
INTRODUCTORY 7
Solesmes monks had hardly begun those studies which
were destined to revolutionize both the theory and
the practice of Plainsong ; some of the melodies are in
corrupt versions owing to the editor's ignorance of the
neumatic notation, and all are badly harmonized and their
characteristics thereby destroyed.
In 1904 the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern,
fully alive to the shortcomings of the old book, presented
to the Church their new edition. Its failure to win
acceptance owing to the ignorant prejudices of clergy
and congregations is a matter of common knowledge.
No doubt the pedantic alteration of well-known texts
was a terrible mistake, but from a musical point of view
the new edition is infinitely superior to the old ; it is
really difficult to understand how any self-respecting
priest and congregation can still adhere to a book so
hopelessly out of date from the point of view of modern
scholarship. Let us note the words of Mr. J. A. Fuller-
Maitland, late musical editor of the Times, one of the
foremost musical critics of the day.
" The popular collection, Hymns Ancient and Modern, had
in the course of years become overlaid with sentimentalism
of every description, and the proprietors recently sought
the aid of a strongly representative committee, to whom
they entrusted the work of preparing a new edition. The
office hymns were set to their proper tunes, and these were
associated with harmonies in keeping with their character ;
beautiful old hymns were restored to the collection, and the
original versions of the words and the music were found
and printed wherever it was possible, though, of course,
there were many cases of questionable alteration. The
weight of public prejudice was found to be too strong for
8 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
the book, and in a great number of churches the old
collection is retained in use." I
What is the reason for this dead weight of popular
prejudice which stands in the way of the necessary reforms ?
Lord Hugh Cecil has taken hymn tunes as an example in
his essay on " Conservatism."
" Every one," he says, " is acquainted with the irritation
caused by the singing of a familiar hymn to an unfamiliar
tune . . . our ears are expecting the old one ; we long for
the accustomed impression, and every note of the new
melody disappoints us and has almost a discordant ring."
And why is this pre-eminently the case with hymn
tunes ? Of all compositionsi hymns make the most direct
and the simplest appeal to the human heart A hymn,
discharged from some overmastering association, flies
straight to its mark, and, like a barbed arrow, may not be
withdrawn without pain and suffering. That this is the
case my readers can verify for themselves. " Go through
a hymn-book with your most intimate friend, one who
thinks as you do on every detail of musical taste, and you
will, I think, be surprised to find that he will confess to a
sneaking regard for some dreadful piece of inanity, while
he will probably hold up hands of horror at some of your
own preferences. The reason is, of course, obvious to
every one who considers the power of association. We are
all accustomed to certain hymns from childhood ; we heard
them at our mother's knee, or sang them at school, and
thus grew up to delight in some and to detest others, both
1 The Need for Reform in Church Music. A Lecture delivered to the Members
of the Church Music Society on May 29, 1910, in St. Paul's Chapter House,
by J. A. Fuller-Maitland, Esq., F.S.4. A most valuable paper, from which
I shall have to make several quotations.
INTRODUCTORY 9
opinions being quite possibly baseless and prejudiced.
Association is, indeed, one of the great attractions of
hymns." l If this be true, how heavy is the responsibility
of the clergy. It is their duty to do their utmost to
educate the taste of their congregations, to take care that
associations are formed round the right kind of tune, to
banish as far as possible the mawkish and the sentimental,
and so to raise gradually the musical standard of the
worship we offer to Almighty GOD. It would surprise my
readers to learn how very modern most of our bad popular
tunes are, generally about thirty or forty years old, often
displacing better ones to which the hymns concerned were
formerly sung. The latter half of the nineteenth century
was about the worst period for hymn tunes.
We want to make the clergy thoroughly discontented ;
we want to spur them out of their present apathy ; only by
plain speaking can we hope to raise the Church out of the
pit into which she has fallen. But pray let the adverb
gradually be noted ; the best in this matter may easily be
the enemy of the good. The enthusiastic " Plainsong "
vicar has a pure taste in music and a fastidious liturgical
sense, but to follow unrestrainedly whither his bent leads
him is to efface himself as a musical reformer. And this
is true in the compilation of hymn-books. The English
Hymnal^ with all its scholarship and musical excellence,
contains at least fifty tunes, and, in my judgement, more
than one hundred hymns, which are unworthy of the rest,
but which must be included in any Church hymn-book
it it is seriously intended to provide for the necessities of
the day. Again, it must be remembered that a modern
hymn-book has to provide for three very distinct necessities
1 Fuller-Maitland.
io HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
(i) Liturgical worship ; (2) Mission services and catechism;
(3) Private reading and singing. The clergy, with whom,
under our system, rests the unfettered selection of hymns,
ought to train themselves to these distinctions. Gradually
the office hymns should take their rightful places, other
hymns within the Prayer Book services should be con-
gruous to its liturgical spirit, and the more emotional and
subjective hymns relegated to other occasions or associated
with the sermon. This applies equally to the tunes. The
more cultivated the congregation the easier these reforms
should be.
Not much more can be done at present than has been
done in this book, from which most of the subsequent
illustrations will be taken, i.e. to give with unstinting hand
the finest melodies of every age and every part of Western
Christendom, alongside of such of the old, and often
worthless, favourites as are not too contemptible for
insertion. A patient whose taste has been depraved by
long indulgence in exciting liquors must be allowed his
daily dram, though in diminishing quantities, before he can
subsist entirely on more wholesome and less stimulating
food ; the English Hymnal relegates the worst of these
spiritual "nips" to Part II of the Appendix. 1
We may comfort ourselves with this reflection All
things being equal, musical excellence will assert itself.
Let us gradually wean ourselves from bad associations ; let
1 I think the musical editor has been a little hard on " Northrop "
(No. 8). It is a good tune for " While shepherds watched their flocks
by night " when this hymn is sung as a carol. At any rate it is a fair
specimen of a distinctively Methodist tune, dating, I should judge, from
the end of the eighteenth or quite the beginning of the nineteenth century,
and of much the same type as the deservedly popular " Helmsley." And
there are some dreadful tunes in the "Missions" section.
INTRODUCTORY 1 1
us teach our people not to expect in our churches com-
petition with the music-hall. For here, in the House of
GOD, we withdraw for a little space from the turmoil of the
world, its witching fascinations, and the passing fashions of
the day, into an atmosphere which is more serene an
atmosphere which inspires us with the memories of bygone
ages and with the hopes which reach forward into that
" dear, dear country," that " Paradise of joy "
" Where trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring,
Where evermore the angels sit,
And evermore do sing."
II
PLAINSONG
THE music sung in our churches at the present day
falls into two main divisions Plainsong (often called
Gregorian^ because all the chants attributed to S. Gregory
the Great and his school were necessarily in this style)
and Modern Music. We will fix the commencement of
Modern Music at the beginning of the sixteenth century ;
this is a rather arbitrary line of division, but one must be
drawn somewhere, and the year 1500 is good enough for
our purpose. 1 It will be now our task to examine the
Plainsong system, and to trace the gradual evolution of
Modern Music. Throughout we shall bear in mind that
it is hymn tunes, ancient and modern, which we are dis-
cussing, and we shall try to arrive at some standard of
excellence by which to judge the compositions that we
hear.
Plainsong stands by itself as the true liturgical music
of the Western Church ; it and the liturgical forms which
it clothes have so grown together in the course of ages that
we can hardly conceive of a complete separation. Just as
in the furnishing of our churches, and the ceremonial
employed therein, no violent break with the past is possible
to any body of Christians claiming continuity with the
Church of the Fathers and of the Middle Ages, so all
1 The Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society takes the year 1550
as the limit beyond which it does not pursue its study. See note on p. 14.
12
PLAINSONG 13
ecclesiastical music, having grown out of the Plainsong,
must have a definite relation to it ; it must bear the marks
of its ancestry on its face, and show no disposition to ignore
the rock from which it has been hewn. This is, indeed,
the supreme test of excellence in Church music, and com-
positions which will not pass it we may safely put on one
side. They are usually the work of uncultured musicians
who happen to be organists by necessity or choice, and,
being organists, are expected to be composers of Church
music, or of themselves rashly embark upon a task for
which they have no adequate training. 1 Fortunately this
type of organist is getting rarer.
The day is over when musicians of first or even second
rank could sneer at Plainsong. Musical culture has made
enormous strides during the past fifty years, and meanwhile
the labours of the Solesmes Fathers have revolutionized
both the art and the science of the old music. If any such
musicians still linger, they are but Mid-Victorian ghosts
late in being laid to rest. This is not a treatise on plain
chant, but we must briefly point out the characteristics of
the musical system which has given us hymn tunes which
have been sung uninterruptedly for more than a thousand
years, which are still sung in every country in Europe, and
which, it is tolerably safe to prophesy, will be on the lips
of Christians centuries after the tunes which are written
to-day have passed into oblivion. Of what compositions
produced during the last three hundred years can we say
with confidence that they will be played or sung a thousand
or even five hundred years hence ? Are we quite sure
1 Mr. Fuller-Maitland gives an instance of " Jackson in F," and
suggests that the author of this " notoriously flimsy service " might quite
possibly have won a lasting success in light comic opera !
i 4 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
that such masterpieces as Handel's oratorios, Beethoven's
sonatas, and Wagner's operas will be still performed in,
let us say, the year 2500 ? If persistence is a test of
excellence, in the whole range of art Plainsong is only
surpassed by classical forms in architecture, where the
total disappearance of the orders is almost beyond our
power to conceive. A fairly close parallel might be drawn
between the inspiration which all pleasing forms of archi-
tecture and of music alike draw from their sources. In
both we feel that the violent straining after novelty T art
noubeau is an abomination.
Plainsong differs from Modern Ecclesiastical Music in
three particulars.
1. Modern Music is measured i.e. the accents occur
at regular fixed intervals, and the words follow the music. 1
Plainsong is not measured i.e. the accents occur
irregularly, making the rhythm free, but subject to certain
laws of proportion which satisfy the ear, and the music follows
the words.
2. Modern Music has only two scales or modes, the
major and the minor, depending upon the position of the
semitones ; Plainsong has eight.
Of the Eight Modes, the odd numbers are called
authentic, and are as follows : (i) D to D, Dominant A,
Final D. (iii) E to E, Dominant C, Final E. (v) F to
1 It must be born in mind that using the term " Modern Music " in
the sense we have previously defined this is not quite true of the polyphonic
music of the sixteenth century. This is transitional music unlike the
Plainsong, every note has a distinct time value, but the accent occurs on
the strong syllables, not on the first beat of the bar. When listening to
the work of Palestrina, Lassus, Vittoria, etc., you ought not to feel that
you are listening to barred music at all. So also the old modes were used
by the polyphonic school.
PLAINSONG 15
F, Dominant C, Final F. (vii) G to G, Dominant D,
Final G. The even numbers are called ptaga/, and each
bears an intimate relation to the preceding authentic mode,
having the same final. They are (ii) A to A, Dominant F,
Final D. (iv) B to B, Dominant A, Final F. (vi) C to
C, Dominant A, Final F. (viii) E to E, Dominant C,
Final G. The only accidental allowed, for certain purposes,
is B flat.
There are fourteen possible modes. Of these,
Modes ix and x are practically reducible to Mode i and ii.
Modes xi and xii are rejected because of the false fifth,
and Modes xiii and xiv were not used for ecclesiastical
purposes.
3. Modern Music admits of harmony, and, indeed,
relies upon it for its appeal to the senses. Plainsong is
essentially a unisonal system, as naturally follows from No. i .
For any attempt at polyphony instantly destroys the freedom
of the rhythm, and compels some kind of mensuration.
The two kinds of music being on different planes,
comparison between them is difficult ; but the following
passage dealing with difference No. 2 is worth quotation :
" Modern Music has deliberately given up whole mines
of melodic treasures so as to better exploit the veins of
harmonic wealth which underlie the modern scales. No
one need quarrel with this action, for the gain harmonically
is immeasurable ; but nevertheless the harmonic gain
involved a melodic loss. So far as pure melody is con-
cerned, there is infinitely more richness and variety in the
old eight modes than in the two modern ones. A modern
ear is often so warped and stunted that it fails to appreciate
the beauties at first ; they are too new and strange for its
limited and narrowed appreciation ; but that soon alters,
1 6 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
and before long the old melodies, with their peculiar
tonality and severe harmonies, 1 begin to exercise a fascina-
tion which, in its way, is quite as powerful as the gorgeous
glory of modern harmony, and is much more suitable to
serve religious ends." 2 And of its chief characteristics
Sir Hubert Parry says, " Of style in relation to attitude
of mind and mood, that of the old Church music is probably
most characteristic." He goes on to speak of " its con-
templative and devotional character, its quietude and
inwardness a style so subtly consistent and so perfectly
regulated that hardly anything in the range of modern art
can compare with it. The instant true secular music came
into being this perfect aptness was doomed. "3
I am quite conscious that Plainsong tonality often
irritates the unaccustomed ear. This is because we have
become so used to the major and minor modes that we
instinctively try to reduce every piece of music we hear to
the one or the other. But the greatest musicians have not
o
disdained the use of the old modes. On the opposite page
are two lines of music. The first is the opening of the
Alma Redemptoris Mater, an eleventh-century composition ;
the second, the first bars of 'ParsivaL Both are in the Fifth
Mode, and of the two Parsival seems the stricter by not
always flattening the B. The melodies have such a curious
resemblance that it is difficult to believe that Wagner
wrote this motive without a reminiscence of the famous
antiphon. Both are of an almost unearthly loveliness ;
which is the more beautiful it is hard to say. For
purposes of comparison I have put the Alma into modern
1 That is, modal organ accompaniment.
2 Elements of Plainsong. 3 Style in Musical Art, 1911.
PLAINSONG 17
notation, and both into the same key, in " the seat " of
the mode.
THE " ALMA REUEMPTORIS MATER."
Be - demp - tor is ma - ter
THE PRELUDE TO " PARSIVAL."
We will take three examples of Plainsong hymns. As
printed below, the top stave gives the melody in the old
notation. This notation is wholly developed out of the
grave and acute accents. The neums, or note-groups,
formed from these accents, appeared in the ninth century ;
these were first put upon a stave by Guido d'Arezzo in
the eleventh century. There is no difficulty in distinguish-
ing the notes ; there are two clefs, the C clef | and the
F clef 1 (often written in plainer characters), which make
the lines on which they are placed respectively C and
F, and are movable so as to keep the melody upon the
stave. It is to be remembered that the notes, or neums, have
no time ^a/ue whatever. In singing a piece of Plainsong
music, read the words first, note where the accents naturally
fall, then clothe the words with the melody, singing lightly and
1 8 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
with the greatest freedom. When elaborate neums, or
note-groups, occur it is a rough working rule to let the
first note take the stress of the voice, drawing, as it were,
the other notes after it. Skilled musicians, however, would
give different values to the different neums, each having
its own proper rendering. For it must be remembered
that Plainsong is a musical system of the utmost delicacy
and technicality ; whilst nothing is easier or more congre-
gational than the simple hymn tunes and the psalm tunes,
the melismatic Plainsong of, let us say, the Alleluya chant I
demands both knowledge and skill on the part of the
singer.
The harmonies given below in modern notation are
only suggestions for accompaniment ; and where the
melody is awkwardly high or low in its seat, as it is called,
it is transposed in the accompaniment. Thus, in the first
example, the melody begins on F and is transposed in the
accompaniment, so that it begins on G.
There are two kinds of Plainsong :
1. Syllabic, in which each syllable is sung to one note
with only occasional note-groups, and those of a simple
kind.
2. Melismatic^ which is composed largely of note-
groups, often of an elaborate kind.
Our first example is syllabic, and in the Fifth Mode. 2
(Before singing these Plainsong tunes those unaccustomed
1 An example of an Alleluya chant is given in E. H., No. 738, at page
891 of the Music Edition. It will be referred to when we deal with
the Sequences.
2 As here given. But before the fifteenth century in all MSS.,
whether of Sarum, York, Worcester, Peterborough, Barking, or Gisburn,
it occurs as an Eighth Mode melody, i.e. written a tone higher. I am
indebted to the Rev. G. H. Palmer for this note.
PLAINSONG
fefe
1 f-^ *
<5 HS*
^U-^^J^-1.
S=
:g-
rfrff i i i J ! i
-JMF 1 -1 rt & ' r^ :d
j -A rJ ^ j ^ J
i ( y t3 s c?
^? ^o c5 y G
1 l
i - 1 i ~
VaS *lr ^^ ^^ * f r-^ ^^
^* P* '
\\-J<*fP | (C3
^^ 1 C^
i i o i i
=; '
OFFICE HYMN. Low Sunday
till Ascension, M.
i i
4th of 5th cent. Tr. T. A . L
Sermone blando Angelas.
His cheering message from the grave
An angel to the woman gave :
" Full soon your Master ye shall see ;
He goes before to Galilee."
But while with flying steps they press
To bear the news, all eagerness,
Their LORD, the living LORD, they meet,
And prostrate fall to kiss his feet.
20 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
to the old tonality will find it advantageous to play over
the modal scales in which they are written.) This beauti-
ful tune has been sung in the English Church to the
Easter hymn from Saxon times. E. H., No. 124, Part 1 ;
H.A. and M., No. 142 N. E.
Our second example is also syllabic, and in the First
Mode (E. H., No. 52). The stately words are by S.
Ambrose, and how different from the sentimental stuff
which so often does duty for a hymn in our churches !
The translation is by Dr. Bridges, the Poet Laureate.
This hymn is the proper office hymn for Monday morn-
ing from Epiphany to Lent.
The last example (p. 23), Lux beata Trinilas, is
melismatic ; it is in the Eighth Mode. E. H., No. 164;
H. A. and M., No. 36 N. E.
In my judgement the more elaborate melismatic
tunes as, for example, Aeterne Rex altissime (E. H.,
No. 141 ; H. A. and M., No. 167 N. E.) are rarely suitable
for parish churches ; their graceful note-groups need
the skilled chanters of " quires and places where they
sing." For hymns are very definitely the people's
part of the service, and all tunes which reduce the con-
gregation to silence should be rigorously eschewed. O
Lux beata 'Trinitas is an exception, for on examination
it will be found that three of the four lines of music are
exactly the same ; it is very easily learnt, therefore, and
as it is the Saturday evening office-hymn from Trinity
Sunday to Advent, repetition will soon make it familiar.
And there is this peculiarity about Plainsong tunes
though it takes some little trouble to learn them, once
learnt they remain fixed in the memory for ever.
In the English Hymnal all the old English office-
PLAINSONG
21
c >
*
"
Pi
^AA^L^S: i _J
-e>-ftj -&-
I
9
I I- I
7J=ri=s~
T
J. ^. J J. J.
4_ : - Q o
Splendor paternae gloriae.
S. Ambrose, 340-97. Tr. Y.H.
O Splendour of GOD'S glory bright,
O thou that bringest light from light,
O Light of light, light's living spring,
O Day all days illumining.
O thou true Sun, on us thy glance
Let fall in royal radiance,
The Spirit's sanctifying beam
Upon our earthly senses stream.
Morn in her rosy car is borne;
Let him come forth our perfect Morn.
The Word in GOD the FATHER one,
The FATHER perfect in the SON.
22 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
hymns, so far as they are required by the Prayer Book
Kalendar, are given, with their proper melodies. In the
new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern nearly all the
office-hymns for the seasons and some of those for the
Holy Days are given, also with their proper melodies.
In both books modern tunes are supplied for the office-
hymns for use where the Plainsong cannot be attempted.
The old edition of Hymns Indent and Modern is deplorable
in this respect. Comparatively few of the office-hymns are
inserted, and some of these translated into the wrong
metre. Where the Plainsong melodies are attached they
are sometimes late corrupt versions, sometimes Plainsong
treated as modern tunes, and even Plainsong melodies
corrupted, apparently through the editors of the day being
unable to read the old notation. The accompaniments,
too, rarely take any account of the modes in which the
tunes are written, thus effectually destroying the character
of the music.
PLAINSONG
'
S. .
m
I i^.
> .
.
=1 Mp
} =&-r*-**-A = >
i r
J_Q.i-
1 . .
a
i n
-V-
.
G-6 ^^^~
^^g a-; ^- F^-
r ^
n
t=t
1
.
i
% * f"
'%
V _ '
OFFICE HYMN. Saturdays from Trinity
Sunday to Advent, E. S. Ambrose, A.D. 340-97. Tr. J. M. Neale.
O Lux beata Trinitas.
O Trinity of blessed light,
O Unity of princely might,
The fiery sun now goes his way ;
Shed thou within our hearts thy ray.
WE now leave Plain song and come to the other great
division, which may be called that of Modern Hymn
Tunes, because, whatever their character, they conform to
the system of mensuration ; they are all in more or less
strict time. How did so great a change come about ?
Early in the Middle Ages the effects of harmony were
known, and clumsy attempts at part-singing called dhcant
were made. l By the end of the fifteenth century musicians
had so far progressed in the laws of harmony that, like
a resistless tide, part-singing invaded the sanctuary ; from
that moment the delicate and graceful accentuation
and rhythm of Plainsong were lost ; the excellences of the
two schools of music could not exist side by side, and
Plainsong became for centuries the bond-slave of modern
music. Only in our own days have the labours of the
monks of Solesmes restored to us the true method of
rendering the ancient melodies.
The reason for this loss is not obscure. Whilst a single
voice, or even a choir of voices, so long as they sing in
unison, can maintain the freedom of rhythm, directly
voices begin to sing in parts and in contrary motion,
mensuration becomes absolutely necessary. That mensura-
1 But in the thirteenth century there occurs in England an extra-
ordinary instance of polyphonic excellence, " Sumer is icumen in."
24
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 25
tion may not be as rigid as in the barred music of the
present day, but it is quite sufficient to destroy the grace
and beauty of the plain chant.
This will be made abundantly clear by an example (p. 26)
originally written by Tallis (1515-85) for Psalm cxix and
set by Messrs. Royle Shore and Francis Burgess to the
Magnificat. Here the two opening verses, being simple
Plain song, can be sung lightly and gracefully in the old,
free manner. In the third verse Tallis introduces the
faux-bourdon harmonies. Instantly the whole character of
the chant changes ; the intonation of the tone, which is
in the tenor part, is dropped, mensuration takes the place
of the old rhythm, dignity and majesty replace elegance
and grace. So perfect is the harmonic colouring in the
hands of the great master that we are reconciled to the
loss of the old beauties, but the loss is there. And as
the canticle proceeds, the contrast of the alternate Plain-
song and harmony seems to bring into relief the excellences
of each whilst emphasizing the greatness of the change. 1
Plainsong melodies now became but the framework
round which were twined the various melodies above and
below the cantus firmus in the works of that splendid school
of contrapuntal musicians of whom Palestrina is the greatest
1 This example is from the series of canticles, polyphonic and homo-
phonic, by English composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
which were sung in our cathedrals up to the Great Rebellion. They
are published by Messrs. Novello & Co., the simpler in the " Parish
Choir Book " Series, and the more elaborate in the " Cathedral " Series of
Church Service Music of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
We are indebted to the enthusiasm of Mr. Royle Shore for rescuing from
oblivion this beautiful music. So well had the destructive Puritans done
their work that it nearly perished during the troubles. When the choirs
were reassembled in the cathedrals at the Restoration, the old traditions
were only partially recovered and the barbarous " Anglican chant " arose.
26 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
1 PRECENTOR. CHOIR AND PEOPLE. Tone VII, Ending 1.
1. My soul doth mag-ni-fy the Lord ; and iny spi-rit hath re-joic-ed in God my Sa-viour.
r
j^a^=a
p==S=*^B
i=
2. For he hath re-gard - ed : the low- li - ness of his hand-maid-en.
:~jb*E=!:
F=pc
r f=*
(2 SOPRANOS.)
^
^?3p^$r^~ J^-J h-*
~lgd_ izl^ fc^r3*a^-ig=
itrr-p
3. For be - hold, from h<?nce-forth : tfL^ghafl" cdl1 me ^
PLAINSONO. <== - ---^ call me bless -ed
ed "
__
call me bless ed.
example. As early as 1516 Ornithoparcus laid down that
"all the notes of the Plainsong are to be sung in equal
1 Copyright, 1913, by Novello 8c Co. Ltd.
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 27
length and without accent or rhythm." Modern ecclesi-
astical music was now fully born. The subsequent history
of Plainsong is one of the deepest degradation. Still,
professedly sung as plain chant, in the process of forming
the contrapuntal framework its true rendering had been
forgotten, and it became the monotonous and inartistic stuff
still heard in most Continental churches, revived in this
form in our own churches at the beginning of the Oxford
Movement, and deservedly unpopular with all true
musicians. It was left for the Solesmes monks to teach us
how to read the MSS. and how to sing the chants they
practically re-discovered. This is what is known as the
Solesmes method, now being widely introduced both in
England and abroad.
Whilst mensuration meant a grievous loss to the prose
part of the services, it had no such evil effect upon the
hymns. A moment's consideration will reveal the reason
whilst Plainsong adapts itself to the free rhythm of prose,
measured music is quite applicable to the fixed rhythm of
poetry.
Take the prose of the English psalter, where the
accents are balanced with such captivating proportion :
Try me O God, and se'e^ the ground of my heart : prove me
and examine my thoughts, where five accents are balanced
against three, or
Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit : or whither shall I
go then from thy presence ?
But, though balanced, the number and accents of the
syllables are not fixed as in poetry, and subjected to
the rigorous laws of metre. Whilst no beauty of
harmony can redeem the Anglican chant from its innate
barbarism, there is nothing to offend the most cultivated
28 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
taste in modern hymn tunes, whether harmonized or in
unison. 1
Let us now take the French ecclesiastical melodies as
the first development from the Plainsong. These have
been persistently brought to the notice of English choirs
by the Rev. J. B. Croft, priest-organist of S. Matthew's,
Westminster, and are first presented to English Churchmen
on a considerable scale in the English Hymnal, where they
are given as alternatives to the Plainsong tunes for the
office hymns. They are easier for most choirs and more
congregational, because more closely allied to Modern
Music. They may be regarded, indeed, as a link between
the old and the new, and are an interesting development
of liturgical music in France, dating from the sixteenth
century. These are the hymn tunes you will hear through-
out the French cathedrals and parish churches ; they are
professedly, but by no means strictly, in the eight ecclesi-
astical modes, 2 Modes i and v predominating, and for
this reason : They arose in the musical epoch we have been
discussing, when harmony was coming to the front and the
1 "The Anglican chant, is of course, an anomaly from the historical
point of view as well as the artistic. . . . Some of us feel that the
restoration of the real Plainsong would not only be a positive gain in itself
but would have the additional advantage that it would sweep away the
Anglican chant. As for the double chant, association is the only thing
that can excuse it, and the quadruple chant is an invention which it
is difficult to refer to in temperate language." Fuller-Maitland. A
praiseworthy attempt to promote the free singing of Anglican chants
has been made by Messrs. Marshall and Pile in their Tearless Tsalter
(Novello). Provided that simple chants are chosen, and that they are
sung in unison, the result seems to me quite satisfactory. Thus treated,
Anglican chants become what is practically Plainsong in the modern
tonality of major and minor.
2 Being on the border-line between ancient and modern tonality, their
complexion will greatly depend upon whether their harmonization follows
their professed modes, or is in the terms of major and minor.
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 29
eight modes were going out of use, not because their
tonality was disliked, be it remembered, but owing to the
great difficulties which the contrapuntal musicians of that
day encountered in providing harmonies for these modal
melodies (it would be going into too great technicalities to
explain the reason). Major and minor, therefore, were
evolved out of Modes v and i respectively, and the
others eschewed as far as possible.
These French ecclesiastical melodies are of two kinds :
(i) Measured versions of Plainsong tunes ; (2) Com-
positions of much the same character, either old " Prick-
song" 1 or tunes written in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries.
The first example is measured Plainsong. On the two
next pages, opposite each other for the purpose of com-
parison, are the two tunes ; that on the left the original
Plainsong tune (E. H., No. 150 ; H. A. and M., No. 178
N. E.), and that on the right what the French musicians
of the sixteenth century made of it (E. H., No. 51, " Lucis
Creator "). Both tunes are in the First Mode.
1 Pricksong is mediaeval secular music, used on certain occasions, by
way of licence, in church. This music was measured and, indeed, included
dance tunes. A very early specimen is " Sumer is icumen in " (Perspice
Christicola), 1260. It was not infrequently in the Thirteenth Mode,
exactly equivalent to our major, which was called the " Lascivious Mode,"
thought unfitted for liturgical purposes and only used thus when you
wanted to be a little naughty !
30 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
I
5
-
_C-^ f-j_ _J I f-j I f~) I -~
-f^t s ^ ^rr
-flsi
C2 C2- .
^ rJ-^~
^^^P^P
2-e~^ZZ
S v
ic^
r
^*=r
Y
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 31
In moderate timt = 144.
_s n To be sung in unison.
:f=
Angers Church Melody.
O Blest Creator of the light,
Who mak'st the day with radiance bright,
And o'er the forming world didst call
The light from chaos first of all ;
Whose wisdom joined in meet array
The morn and eve, and named them Day :
Night come with all its darkling fears,
Regard thy people's prayers and tears.
32 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The next example is a tune wholly in the major,
though in the French service-books it would be written
D
in Pseudo-Plainsong notation and labelled Mode v.
It is, so far as I know, an original composition,
probably of the sixteenth century. (E. H., No. 18.)
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 33
ST. VENANTIUS. (L. M.)
in moderate time * = 144.
To be sung in unison.
Rouen Church Melody.
For this how wondrously he wrought !
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of his grace.
She bowed her to the Angel's word
Declaring what the FATHER willed,
And suddenly the promised LORD
That pure and hallowed temple filled.
34 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Before leaving these melodies I must refer to the
history of one of our deservedly popular tunes, associated
with the hymn, "Soldiers, who are CHRIST'S below" (E.H.,
No. 480 ; H. A. and M., No. 447 O. E.). This is
French mediaeval " Pricksong," and in its original form
is known as the "Sequence, or Prose of the Ass." We
have all heard of the donkey which a certain titled
lady some years ago asserted had walked in a Palm
Sunday procession in one of our churches, and which,
vainly tracked from church to church, proved to be an
entirely mythical beast ! But at Sens, on New Year's Day,
they had a real donkey which was brought into the
cathedral on this " Festival of the Ass," or " Feast of
Fools," as it was named. We cannot mix the grave with
the gay in the way our simple forefathers could, and these
Christmas games, both the Boy Bishop in England and the
Feast of Fools on the Continent when the choirboys went
into the canons' stalls and the sacred offices were parodied,
buckets of water were poured over the precentor's head,
and the deacon brayed like an ass at the Ite missa est seem
to us quite astoundingly indecent. The " Prose of the
Ass " was sung as the donkey was brought to the cathedral
door, and the words tell us what a beautiful animal he was
and all that he did, carrying the wise men's gifts to Bethle-
hem, etc.
The following is the first verse : which may be translated :
" Orientis partibus " From the regions of the East
Adventavit asinus, Came an Ass, a lovely beast ;
Pulcher et fortissimus, Sleek was he, and very strong,
Sarcinis aptissirnus. Fit for bringing loads along.
Hey, Sire A me, hey!" Hail, Sir Donfoy, hail!"
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 35
The Prose of the Ass.
ORIENTIS PARTIBUS. (77.77.4.)
In moderate time mi =144.
To be sung in unison.
Je - lu
yal
Michael Weisse, c. 1480-1534.
Tr. C. Winkworth.
CHRIST the LORD is risen again !
CHRIST hath broken every chain !
Hark, the angels shout for joy,
Singing evermore on high,
Alleluya !
He who bore all pain and loss
Comfortless upon the Cross,
Lives in glory now on high,
Pleads for us, and hears our cry.
Alleluya !
36 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
In vain popes, councils, and archbishops fulminated
against this ribaldry, the Feast of Fools went on. At last,
after some centuries, the donkey was got out of the church,
but he still went round the town of Sens until he finally
disappeared some two hundred years ago. With him went
his pretty little tune, and I believe it is sung only in our
English churches through the accident of its being
found by Redhead, and set to "Soldiers, who are CHRIST'S
below" in Hymns Ancient and Modern. 1 As adapted to this
hymn the music of its refrain, "Hey, Sire Asne, hey!" is
omitted. The complete tune is given on the previous
page, set to an Easter hymn, the last line being pro-
vided with the more decorous refrain, AHeluya (E. H.,
No. 129).
The time of the tune suggests that they danced
round the donkey as they brought him along ! Another
delightful tune of this type is " Solemnis haec festi-
vitas" (E. H., No. 123) ; I suspect a secular origin.
Note how hard it tries to be good, and " recollected "
in the last verse, but lamentably fails and goes tripping
away !
There is a peculiar kind of faux-bourdon harmony, very
simple and yet very effective, which is often employed in
France to embellish these ecclesiastical melodies. It con-
sists of a single part above the melody 2 sung by boys' voices,
whilst the rest of the choir and the congregation sing the
melody in unison. The effect is thrilling ; it gives the
curious impression of an ethereal choir joining in the
worship below ; and those who hear it for the first time
often turn and look up at the roof ! This simple device
1 In the original edition it appears as a tune by Redhead !
2 Often a distinct melody, as in the example given below.
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 37
solves a great difficulty. For how should hymns be
ordinarily sung ? If the choir were singing alone harmony
would be in its place. But hymns are confessedly the
people's part, and directly the congregation joins in the
entire balance of the four-part harmony is destroyed.
Whilst certain portions of the service are rightly left to
the choir alone, others are intended for the whole congre-
gation, and musical propriety dictates that these should
be in unison. No good effect is produced by spasmodic
attempts at part-singing by the unfortunate individuals
who are compelled by the high pitch of our hymn-
books to choose between this and the alternative of
silence. 1
This French faux-bourdon is not really harmony, it is
rather the embellishment by discant of unisonal singing
and, as such, a device of a very high artistic value.
Our next illustration (p. 39), therefore, will be a stately
and majestic tune from Rouen in the major, depending for
its effect on its strict mensuration (E. H., No. 242, Coelites
plaudanf). It is to be sung in unison.
At the third or fourth verse the faux-bourdon part
should be added by half a dozen boys' voices, more or
less, according to the volume of the unisonal singing.
The faux-bourdon should be loud enough to be heard
1 The " tyranny of choirs " has almost ruined congregational hymn-
singing in many of our town churches. In the first place, the rest of the
music is made so elaborate that the people, being unable to sing this, have
lost the habit of singing anything ; it is a well-established tradition of the
Church to have some elaborate music for the trained singers, but not all
the music, even to the Creed, as is so often the case to-day. Secondly,
the pitch of the hymns is raised to suit the part-singing of the choir.
Many of the melodies as given in Hymns indent and {Modern are above
the compass of male voices.
38
soaring above the mass of voices, but not so loud as to
drown the melody and lead the congregation away from it.
And the device should not be overdone ; it should be
used at intervals to relieve a long spell of unisonal
singing. 1
The metre of this hymn is Sapphic ; it is frequently
found in Latin hymns, and is one of the easiest metres
for a congregation to sing. Many fine tunes have been
composed in it, from the various Plainsong melodies to the
Hertzliebster Jesu, adapted by Bach from a melody by Crilger
and used in The Passion according to S. Matthew (E. H.,
No. 70).
The origin of the curious term faux-bourdon has not
been determined with certainty. A plausible derivation
is the following. Discant was viewed with great disfavour
at Rome ; absolutely prohibited by Pope John XXII in
1322, it only gradually gained ground. Even then the
men were restricted to the plain chant, and progressions
in sixths were forbidden. As direct disobedience was
difficult, evasion was practised. The music, as written,
showed only parallel thirds and fifths. But the bass, in
singing, transposed his part an octave higher, and from the
" false bass," now the top part, a succession of thirds and
sixths resulted. Thus :
Written :
Sung :
1 A collection of faux-bourdons for the French ecclesiastical melodies in
the English Hymnal is being prepared for publication.
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 39
COELITES PLAUDANT.
To be sung in unison.
I 1
p rrTrr
-?- ::lz --*--r 1 --?
^^^h
r
Christe, sanctorum decus Angelorum.
OFFICE HYMN. M. for Michaelmas,
CHRIST, the fair glory of the holy angels,
Thou who hast made us, thou who o'er us rulest,
Grant of thy mercy unto us thy servants
Steps up to heaven.
Send thy Archangel, Michael, to our succour;
Peacemaker blessed, may he banish from us
Striving and hatred, so that for the peaceful
All things may prosper.
40 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Another derivation is that it is simply the translation
of musica ficta, i.e. not the Plainsong.
Faux-boitrdon and accompaniment by J. B. CKOFT.
FAUX-BOURDON.
^^l
MELODY.
KfrH-
ACCO M PA N I M F. NT.
^3r
zp:
bf p
\
FRENCH ECCLESIASTICAL MELODIES 41
Send thy Archangel, Gabriel, the mighty ;
Herald of heaven, may he from us mortals
Spurn the old serpent, watching o'er the temples
Where thou art worshipped.
IV
FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES
THE next group of tunes is also French, but in some
respects further removed from the old hymnody,
being of Protestant origin and associated with the metrical
psalms which formed the chief part of the Reformed
worship. It is, indeed, more closely allied to the German
hymns of the sixteenth century than to the Plainsong, and
took definite shape in the collection known as the Genevan
Psalter, begun by Marot in 1541 under the musical editor-
ship of Louis Bourgeois, who adapted some of the melodies
and wrote others of great excellence (1542-57). The
influence they had in France at the time of their issue
was tremendous. Catholic kings like Francis 1 did not
disdain their use, and during the Huguenot ascendency
everybody sang these hymn tunes in the court, in the
street, and on the battlefield. l They have an austereness
which seems to recall the grim religious struggles of the
sixteenth century, and are very suitable for solemn and
grave hymns. Les Commandements de Dieu, written or
adapted by Bourgeois, had its notes equalized and was then
truncated to fit a L. M. metre in English hymn-books.
1 Psalm Ixviii, the psaume de bataillcs of the Huguenots, is E. H., No.
544, turned into a battle-song of the English Church by the inspiring
words of Mr. Lacey. Douen fancifully describes the melody as portray-
ing a great storm ; the opening bars giving the first mutterings of its
approach, then the crash of double thunder-peals, and, finally, the last
rolling of the thunder as the storm passes into the distance.
42
FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES 43
(See H. A. and M., No. 201 O. E., and, rather surpris-
ingly, No. 336 N. E.) The original version is given in
E. H., No. 277, set to Ellerton's fine hymn, "The day
thou gavest, LORD, is ended," in place of the appalling
" S. Clement." That this barrel-organ tune should have
achieved so great popularity amongst English congregations
is one of the best proofs of the degradation to which we
have been led by following the dangerous fashion in hymn
tunes set in the middle of the nineteenth century by
Dykes, Barnby, and Stainer.
On the following pages the two tunes are given for
the purpose of comparison.
44
HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
A good tune. Note its beautiful rhythm and quiet
dignity.
LES COMMANDEMENS DE DIEU. (98.98.)
Slow <y =bQ (J =100). , x
-3
Original form of melody composed,
or adapted 6y L. BOURGEOIS
for the Genevan Psalter, 1543.
I
p * rp "TTPTV~P i ~"i n
The day thou gavest, LORD, is ended,
The darkness falls at thy behest ;
To thee our morning hymns ascended,
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.
We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping,
While earth rolls onward into light,
Through all the world her watch is keeping,
And rests not now by day or night.
FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES 45
A really bad tune. Note amongst its faults the
initial interval of a major sixth which compels a portamento
and thus, at the very beginning of the tune, induces that
ultra-sentimentality which is so characteristic of it. Again,
this interval coming before B and C accentuates the semi-
tonal interval which helps to give the tune its effeminacy.
When the first line comes round again, at the third line, it
is difficult to restrain one's feelings ! The harmonization,
too, does not mitigate its faults.
ST. CLEMENT. ((98.98.)
In moderate time *> = 112.
The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren 'neath the western sky,
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high.
So be it, LORD ; thy throne shall never.
Like earth's proud empires, pass away ;
Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever,
Till all thy creatures own thy sway.
46 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Another example from the Genevan Psalter, con-
tinuously in use in Scotland as "Old I24th," is very
happily set in the E. H., No. 352, to the famous funeral
hymn of Prudentius. It is a wonderfully solemn tune, and
it would be difficult to find any better suited to the words
and the occasion than this exquisite melody. An alternative
setting with the melody in the tenor is given in E. H.,
No. 114.
Like the foregoing, some of these tunes found their
way into the English and Scottish metrical psalters, often
adapted and not thereby improved. The most noteworthy
is the splendid " Old Hundredth," written by Bourgeois in
1551 for Psalm cxxxiv. Three settings are given in the
E. H., No. 365. The wretched modernized versions
given in the old edition of H. A. and M., Nos. 435,
516, should be absolutely shunned.
The beautiful tune called in England " Dundee "
(E. H., No. 43) is too well known to need insertion. It
is from the Scottish Psalter of 1615, and there called
" French Tune." These old C. M. tunes were always sung
very slowly and written with long notes at the beginning
and end of every line. In the last century all the notes of
" Dundee " were made equal, except the finals of the
second and fourth lines, and the tempo quickened. 1 It is
quite spoilt by this severe handling ; it is turned into a
modern tune and all its dignity lost. 2
1 See versions in H. A. and M., No. 80 O. E., No. 83 N. E.
3 This is well discussed in the notes to the Tattendon Hymnal. See
p. 68.
FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES 47
OLD 124TH. (10.10.10.10.10.)
Slow <z> = 66.
Melody in Genevan Psalter, 1551.
m
-tgr
l '
-&--
ictl
-I 1 '
^^0=^*
^P=^^
FATHER of spirits, Whose divine control
Doth bind the soul and body into one,
Thou wilt restore this body now undone ;
For once it was the mansion of a soul,
Where dwelt the glowing wisdom of thy SON.
Thou, Maker of the body, dost ordain
That this thine image, moulded by thy will,
Our every hope in glory shall fulfil ;
So, till the body thou dost build again,
Thou wilt preserve the spirit freed from ill.
48 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The following from the Scottish Psalter of 1635, based
on the Genevan Psalter and known as Old loyth, is so
characteristic that it deserves to be inserted in this place.
(E. H., No. 493.)
FRENCH PROTESTANT MELODIES 49
Slow * = 96 ( G = 48).
k-a F ' ^H-- := m ^Rfa i i
rf tr
lestz
J J-r-1
tzSS
rzzz: =
rTT
-
PTTT^'T ^
CZZ_E
k'
J=4J
-J- 4t
f - r:r f^-
i r TT
3/-s. C. F. Alexander, 1823-95.
The roseate hues of early dawn,
The brightness of the day,
The crimson of the sunset sky,
How fast they fade away !
Unison.
O for the pearly gates of heaven,
O for the golden floor ;
O for the Sun of righteousness
That setteth nevermore !
5 o HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The highest hopes we cherish here,
How fast they tire and faint ;
How many a spot defiles the robe
That wraps an earthly saint !
Unison.
O for a heart that never sins,
O for a soul washed white ;
O for a voice to praise our King,
Nor weary day or night !
AN entire volume would be inadequate for the treatment
of the German hymns, which have long attained a
popularity beyond the land of their birth, besides furnishing
themes to the greatest musicians.
As early as the ninth century tropes of the Kyrie l were
versified in the language of the people, and hymns in the
vernacular, either translations from the Latin or of the
carol type, were sung all over Germany throughout the
Middle Ages. The soil was therefore ready for the seeds
of modern hymnody which Luther planted. However
much we may differ as to Luther's merits as a theologian
and a reformer, none will question his literary taste and
his musical genius.
German hymn tunes, therefore, may be divided into
two groups : (i) mediaeval and traditional melodies, often
adapted and harmonized by masters like Praetorius ; (2)
tunes written by Luther and his contemporaries, notably
CrQger, which set the type known as the chorale and
obtained their highest musical development at the hands of
John Sebastian Bach.
The earlier melodies are often very lovely and sweet.
To my thinking, the chorales are not all suited to English
1 LORD, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this !aw, is the
most familiar instance to us of a " farced " Kyrie, the latter part being the
trope.
52 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
choirs and congregations, in whose mouths they are liable
to become dull. For, in the first place, the " tyranny of
choirs " has largely destroyed congregational singing, both
by over-elaboration of the general music and the raising of
the pitch of hymns for part-singing ; and, secondly, the
reaction in the middle of the nineteenth century, after the
perpetual metrical psalm-singing, has not only quickened
the pace of the hymn-singing where it was needed, but has
led to the mischievous belief that all singing to be "hearty"
must be fast. It is safe to say that, whilst all Plainsong
tunes must be sung lightly and rather quickly, the majority
of measured tunes are better taken slowly ; this is especi-
ally the case with the chorales and the old psalm tunes.
Anybody who has heard chorales sung in Germany,
say in Cologne Cathedral, by a vast congregation, at a pace
slower than any of our untravelled choirmasters could
imagine^ has had an experience which will leave an indelible
impression on his mind.
Of the first class of German tunes we will take two
examples, " Puer nobis nascitur " of Praetorius (1571
1621) and " Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen."
Here is the original of " Puer nobis nascitur," a little
carol of the fifteenth century :
GERMAN HYMN TUNES
53
Unto us is born a SON,
King of Quires supernal :
See on earth his life begun,
Of lords the LORD eternal.
54 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Out of this Praetorius made the beautiful tune which
is printed opposite. Notice the quiet first line, beginning
and ending on the tonic (D above middle C), as does the
second line, only here the melody rises quickly to end on
the D, an octave above that of the first line. In the third
and fourth lines the melody gradually falls to its grave and
quiet ending. We may note also the time and rhythm,
which give a rocking, soothing character to the tune.
Being written for a hymn to the Infant CHRIST, it is just
the kind of melody a mother would chant for a lullaby.
(E. H., No. 14.)
GERMAN HYMN TUNES
55
PUER NOBIS NASCITUR. (L. M.)
In moderate time * = 144.
Composed or adapted by
M. PRAKTORIL'S, 1571-1(521.
Harmonized by G. R. WOODWARD.
[Hay be sung in unison throughout.^
Come, thou Redeemer of the earth
And manifest thy virgin-birth :
Let every age adoring fall ;
Such birth befits the GOD of all.
Begotten of no human will,
But of the Spirit, thou art still
The Word of Gon in flesh arrayed,
The promised fruit to man displayed.
56 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The famous mediaeval melody, " Es ist ein' Ros'
entsprungen," as set by Praetorius, is a tune of haunting
beauty. This is the hymn which, sung slowly and
majestically as a band of children scattering roses advanced
in solemn procession up the great arena, created so deep
an impression upon the audience at Olympia, London,
during the performance of " The Miracle." The music
of " The Miracle " was arranged by some of Germany's
foremost musicians, and they knew how to choose their
materials. No tune better shows what can be done by
the simplest means. Note the line formula, A A B A, and
the simplicity of A. Of course the beauty of the tune is
greatly dependent upon the rhythm, which a nineteenth-
century hymn-book compiler would have ruthlessly
destroyed. (E. H., No. 19.!)
If you want a contrast to the sickly sentimental part-
songs which invaded all Anglo-Saxon hymn-books during
the last half of the nineteenth century, set these meretricious
compositions beside " Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen."
1 I wish the original words of the sweet and touching melody had been
kept, but perhaps they are a little too much of the carol type to suit a
hymn-book. Here is one verse, following closely the translation in Mr.
Woodward's notable book Songs o^Syon.
" A spotless Rose is blowing
Sprung from a tender shoot,
By olden prophet's showing
From Jesse came the Root :
It bore a Blossom bright,
In depth of chilly winter,
And in the dead of night."
GERMAN HYMN TUNES
57
ES 1ST EIN' ROS' ENTSPRUNGEN. (76.76. 676.) Ancient German Melody, Harmony
In moderate time > = 100. chiefly from M. PEAETORIUS, 1571-1621.
a full and ho - ly cure.
,*^ " ....
T~r ~f , r .
_J^j J ,^J-JC^-J
A - men.
Q_
and peace on earth
[The performance of this tune will be easy if it is remembered
that the time-)>alue of a crochet is the same throughout.']
S. Germanus, 634-734. Tr. J. M. dQale.
Me'ya KOI TrdpSo^ov 9au/u.a.
A great and mighty wonder,
A full and holy cure !
The Virgin bears the Infant
With virgin-honour pure.
Defeat the hymn again !
" To God on high be glory,
peace on earth to men!"
The Word becomes incarnate
And yet remains on high !
And Cherubim sing anthems
To shepherds from the sky.
HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
LASST UNS ERFREUEN. (88.44.88.
and Alleluyas.)
In moderate time, dignified W = 100.
Unison.
Melody from ' Geistliche Kirchengetdng
(Coin, 1623).
'i.Si
} -r
Fr^>i ij f- 4= h g '- -H I ! | F^-p
I
Harmony.
I
Unison.
J.
-* m -
g_IJg=1=fa=p
Harmony.
sMpLgLrfi!
|^J^j.j.
Al-le - lu - ya, Al-le-
- _Q____ -*----- _C2l_t
rrr
fctfc
lu - ya, Al-le - lu - ya, Al-le - lu - ya, Al-le - lu
ya !
GERMAN HYMN TUNES 59
Ye watchers and ye holy ones,
Bright Seraphs, Cherubim and Thrones,
Raise the glad strain, Alleluya !
Cry out Dominions, Princedoms, Powers',
Virtues, Archangels, Angels' choirs,
Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya !
O higher than the Cherubim,
More glorious than the Seraphim,
Lead their praises, Alleluya !
Thou Bearer of the eternal Word,
Most gracious, magnify the LORD,
Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya !
Respond, ye souls in endless rest,
Ye Patriarchs and Prophets blest,
Alleluya, Alleluya !
Ye holy Twelve, ye Martyrs strong,
All Saints triumphant, raise the song
Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya !
O friends, in gladness let us sing,
Supernal anthems echoing,
Alleluya, Alleluya !
To GOD the FATHKR, GOD the SON,
And GOD the SPIRIT, Three in One,
Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya !
60 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Of the second type of German tunes, Luther's hymn
" Ein' feste burg" (E. H., No. 362, with Carlyle's inimit-
able translation; H. A. and M., No. 416 N. E. 1 ) ; "Nun
danket " of CrOger (1598-1662), "Now thank we all our
GOD" (E. H., No. 533 ; H. A. and M., No. 506 N. E. ;
No. 379 O. E) ; the Passion Chorale of Hassler (1564-
1612), "O Sacred Heart, sore wounded," of which there
are two versions by Bach in the English Hymnal, with a
translation by the Poet Laureate ; and " S. Theodulph "
(Valet will ich dir geben) by Teschner (c. 1613), set to
"All glory, laud, and honour " (E. H., No. 622 ; H. A. and
M., No. no N. E. 2 ), are the best known to English con-
gregations, and very fine examples. The English Hymnal
and the new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern both have
the splendid chorale " Wachet auf " (E. H., No. 12 ; H. A.
and M., No. 348), the former to a translation of the
original words. The chorale " Lasst uns erfreuen "
(E. H., No. 519), formerly quite unknown in this
country for there was no English hymn in the metre
to which it could be sung is now becoming popular at
church festivals, and deservedly so. Its English career,
as " Ye watchers and ye holy ones," may be said to
have begun at the Church Pageant of 1910.
1 No. 378 old edition, where it is set to "Rejoice to-day with one
accord." Pay no attention to the metronome direction and shun the
"Second Version" altogether.
2 There is a serious corruption in the version of H. A. and M., old
edition, condemned very strongly in the new historical edition.
VI
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES
IN considering purely English tunes, to the exclusion
of those derived from French or Scottish sources, the
material is so abundant and the styles so varied that it
is no easy task to select examples which shall be fairly
typical.
First in time and has he a superior in his art ? comes
Tallis (1515-85). Who is there that does not know his
famous canon, 1 set in all our hymn-books to Bishop Ken's
Evening Hymn, " Glory to thee, my GOD, this night,"
or Tallis's Ordinal (9th Tune), set to " O HOLY SPIRIT,
LORD of Grace " ? These two tunes are further examples
of the power of simplicity in the hands of a master.
Besides these several other tunes by Tallis, hitherto very
little known, are given in the English Hymnal^ of which the
Seventh Mode melody is perhaps the most striking (No.
496). The new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern gives
us two tunes by Tye (Nos. 126, 314). Next comes
Orlando Gibbons ; we will take his " Angel's Song," one
of the most beautiful of his compositions, and give it as
he wrote it, from which we shall learn the depths to which
1 A canon is a contrapuntal composition where the melody repeats
itself in two or more parts. Two versions of Tallis's canon are given in the
English Hymnal ; in one the treble leads off with the melody and the tenor
follows, in the other, the original, the arrangement is reversed. The
canon is in the Fourteenth Mode.
61
62 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
the musicians of the Victorian era could plunge themselves,
and, unhappily, our unfortunate congregations. (E. H.,
No. 259.)
Dr. Robert Bridges, the Poet Laureate, says of this
tune in his notes to the Tattendon Hymnal^ " Its. great beauty
is mainly due to the exquisite rhythm, as any one may see
by comparing its degraded form in H. A. and M., No. 8.
The first line is a 'short sapphic' in alia breve time. The
second line, by a simple syncopation, gets free of the double
beat, and allows the last two lines to flow as in triple time."
The new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern has set this
right ; but, alas ! the damage is done, and it will take
years before we get the travesty out of our churches
and even our cathedrals.
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES
ANGEL'S SONG ( (SONG 34). (L.M.)
Slow * = 110 ( <3 = 55).
Original version of melody by
O. GIBBONS, 1583-1625.
- -f--f r i i r i iii 1 r i r
V y
C. Wesley, 1707-88.
Forth in thy name, O LORD, I go,
My daily labour to pursue ;
Thee, only thee, resolved to know,
In all I think, or speak, or do.
The task thy wisdom hath assigned
O let me cheerfully fulfil ;
In all my works thy presence find,
And prove thine acceptable will.
64 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Lawes (15961662), a fine song-writer, was not so
successful in his hymn tunes. Of the five specimens given
in the English Hymnal only two seem to me of real excel-
lence. One is set to a hymn of Bishop Ken's on the
Blessed Virgin, or, rather, to an excerpt from a long ipoem
of his. (E. H., No. 217.)
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES
FARLEY CASTLE. (10 10. 10 10.)
In moderate time & = 72.
H. LAWES, 1D9C-1662.
1
:fjpS tf^p^-. ==^q=q= :
~|-
"* ^-S TO
Q Q P 3 1&
zz?^ zr
Her Virgin eyes saw GOD incarnate born,
When she to Bethl'em came that happy morn ;
How high her raptures then began to swell,
None but her own omniscient SON can tell.
As Eve when she her fontal sin reviewed,
Wept for herself and all she should include,
Blest Mary with man's Saviour in embrace
Joyed for herself and for all human race.
66 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
" S. David " (E. H., No. 166) is a good example of the
stilt) in which the melody progresses in a series of hops.
This was a style much affected by the Puritans.
The Cavaliers burlesqued another stilt, resembling
" York " (E. H., No. 472), by putting to it the following
words :
" Adam and Eve would never believe
That Peter the Miller was dead,
Shut up in a tower for stealing of flour
And never could get a reprieve.
They bor'd a hole in Oliver's nose,
And put therein a string ;
And then they led him round the town
For murthering Charles our King."
(See English County Songs. Leadenhall Press. 1893.)
Dr. Bridges says, " the best stilts are beautiful, and
together with their active vigour they show an unexpected
plaintiveness in fetching their long intervals." To me
they reflect the grim, hard Puritan, or the dour, covenant-
ing Scotchman. I am afraid I am by nature and upbringing
a " malignant " ! No doubt this is where prejudice see
what I have said above comes in.
Jeremiah Clark (1670-1707) was organist of S. Paul's
Cathedral from 1695 to his death; he "shot himself in
the head with a screw pistol " in a fit of melancholic insanity.
Dr. Bridges says of him, " He seems to have been the
inventor of the modern English hymn tune, which degraded
into empty flourish, < quavering and semi-quavering care
away,' before 1800. His tunes are beautiful, and have
the plaintive grace characteristic of his music and melan-
choly temperament. They are first in merit of their kind,
as they were first in time, and they are truly national and
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES
ST. DAVID. (C.M.)
Moderately slow d = 69.
Present form of melody in
Ravenscroj't's Psalter, 1621.
~ d - ^^^
Eniber Days.
CHRIST is gone up ; yet ere he passed
From earth, in heaven to reign,
He formed one holy Church to last
Till he should come again.
His twelve Apostles first he made
His ministers of grace ;
And they their hands on others laid,
To fill in turn their place.
So age by age, and year by year,
His grace was handed on ;
And still the holy Church is here,
Although her LORD is gone.
Let those find pardon, LORD, from thee,
Whose love to her is cold :
And bring them in, and let there be
One Shepherd and one Fold.
J. M. Neale, 1818-66
68 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
popular in style, so that their neglect is to be regretted."
The best known of his tunes is probably " S. Magnus "
(Nottingham), associated with the hymn, " The head that
once was crowned with thorns," but the most characteristic,
and perhaps the finest, is " Bishopthorpe " (S. Paul's).
(See E. H., No. 408 ; H. A. and M., No. 41 N. E.)
Carey (16901743) wrote a tune of a very similar
character called " Surrey " (E. H., No. 491 ; H. A. and M.,
No. 25 N.E.), and he hanged himself! Finally, a nine-
teenth-century composer, G. Smart, wrote another in the
same style " Wiltshire " which is better known than
either of the foregoing, having been set in the old edition
of Hymns Ancient and Modern to " Through all the changing
scenes of life."
Croft (1678-1727) is credited with two well-known
and exceedingly fine tunes "Hanover " and "S. Anne"
which are common to all collections. He found the first
line of" S. Anne " and added the other three. Both these
hymns are of the slow and solemn type, and are quite
ruined by being taken at a quick pace. As to the long
initial notes, I think Dr. Bridges is right in saying that
whilst these old psalm tunes should ordinarily be sung as
they were written, there can be no objection to a modern
.compiler using some liberty of judgement in this matter, as
they do not obviously suit all melodies. Dr. Bridges and
his collaborator, Professor Wooldridge, keep the long
initials in " S. Anne."
Knapp's fine tune " Wareham " must not be passed
over (E. H., No. 475 ; H. A. and M., No. 63 O. E., No.
345 N. E.). He died in 1768.
Robert Wainright (1748-82) composed "Man-
chester," a fairly well-known tune (E. H., No. 168 ; H. A.
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES
69
STOCKTON. (C. M.)
In. moderate time 7 =7fi.
Original version of tune by
T. WRIGHT, 17(53-1829.
O for a heart to praise my GOD,
A heart from sin set free ;
A heart that always feels thy Blood
So freely spilt for me :
A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
My dear Redeemer's throne ;
Where only CHRIST is heard to speak,
Where JESUS reigns alone.
70 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
and M., No. 354 O. E., No. 544 N. E.). Whenever it is
sung the touching story of this good man's misfortune
should be known. He was an accomplished organist.
One day a man twisted his fingers for a joke and cruelly
dislocated the joints, rendering them for ever useless.
" Let him go, GOD forgive him," was all that Wainright
said in his hour of pain and bitter loss.
If we want to see how eighteenth-century composers
wrote tunes of the " bright and hearty " type, we may
take " S. Thomas " (E. H., No. 1 1), " University " (E. H.,
No. 93, there happily set for Refreshment Sunday), and
" Stockton." The latter is ruined in the old edition of
Hymns Ancient and Modern (No. 213) through the alteration
of the last line by Dr. Dykes. Not only is this retained in
the new edition, but there is a further alteration of a note
of the melody in the second line. The original is given on
the previous page. (E. H., No. 82.)
We are now nearing the decadent period. The
Methodist tunes shunted hymnody on to one set of wrong
lines, 1 the Mid- Victorians with their part-songs and mawkish
melodies, now, alas ! so popular with the uncultivated multi-
tude, on to another. But a few serious musicians, like the
elder Webbe, kept to the more sober traditions, and right
through the worst period fine tunes have been written.
Gauntlett wrote tunes many of which deserve to survive,
and Goss's fine melody to Lyte's hymn, " Praise, my soul,
the King of Heaven " (E. H., No. 470), reaches a very
high level of excellence. Of living composers it would be
1 "Helmsley" (E. H., No. 7) and "Northrop" (E. H., Appen-
dix VIII) are specimens of this type. " Helmsley " has defied all efforts
to suppress it; it is certainly a very fine tune. " Caersalem " (E. H.,
No. 39"), hailing from Wales, is another. (See next chapter.)
ENGLISH HYMN TUNES 71
invidious to make selections. I hope those of my readers
who are following this brief sketch of hymnody will be
able to sift the good from the bad, the worthy compositions
from the meretricious. And let all writers of hymn tunes
study carefully the treasure-house of the past. So vast is
the collection stored therein that they will be wise to think
twice before making additions they will not find it easy to
confer immortal lustre upon their names ; they may, indeed,
by ill-hap, confer upon them something very different.
And let them further consider that a few brief years of
popularity are no sufficient test ; even a century may but
reflect a passing fashion. When a tune has been sung
uninterruptedly and by different races of mankind for from
five hundred to a thousand years, then, and not till then,
may it be crowned.
VII
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
WE have had to insist continually on the importance
of hymns as the people's part of the services.
There are occasions when elaborate choir-music is in place,
and, indeed, elaborate music is not a modern invention,
as some people think ; as we shall see in the next chapter,
there was plenty of it in the early centuries of the Church.
S. Augustine himself draws the distinction between the
music in his day that was to be sung by the whole congre-
gation, that by the choir, and that by certain skilled singers.
We have noted, too, that harmony loses its beauty when
handled by a "scratch" body of singers such as a con-
gregation, whilst raising the pitch of hymn tunes to suit
the four-part harmony in our ordinary collections has had
the effect of silencing a considerable proportion of the
worshippers. We pass, therefore, to tunes of the more
popular type, English Folk-song, and touch on our way
upon Welsh hymn-tunes.
These have much in common with Folk-song even
when not, as in some cases, actually Folk-song them-
selves. They have been strangely neglected in the
hymn-books of the Church of England, for they are the
product of the most musical race in the United Kingdom.
They have a peculiar fervour and pathos, a beauty,
indeed, that is all their own ; their fault is a tendency
72
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
73
ABERYSTWYTH. (77.77. D.)
Slow <z> = 58.
JOSEPH PARRY, 1841-1003.
Sir R. Grant,
By permission of Messrs. Hughes & Son, Wrexham.
Saviour, when in dust to thee
Low we bow the adoring knee ;
When repentant, to the skies
Scarce we lift our weeping eyes :
O, by all thy pains and woe,
Suffered once for man below,
Bending from thy throne on high,
Hear our solemn Litany.
1785-1^
74 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
to emotionalism such as we might expect to find in music
composed by Celts. The emotional tunes are unfitted for
purely liturgical use, but very suitable for mission services.
Over a dozen of the most celebrated Welsh tunes are in
the English Hymnal. I give two specimens, the first,
" Aberystwyth," on the previous page (E. H., No. 87 ;
H. A. and M., No. 534 N. E.). The hymn " JESU,
Lover of my soul," is usually sung in Wales to this tune. 1
The beautiful traditional Welsh melody in the First
Mode with the unpronounceable name " Ymdaith Mwngc "
(E. H., No. 203) is too long for insertion here. Like
the foregoing modern tune, it is of the grave and solemn
kind. The modern tune "Bryn, Calgaria" (E. H., No. 203)
is in Modes ix and x. 2 "Moriah" (E. H., No. 437),
a very popular Welsh tune, and "Caersalem" (E. H., No.
397) are examples of the emotional type, the latter is
given on the opposite page. In a tune like this the choir-
master can "let himself go " in piano ^rA forte ^ the melody
seems to require a crescendo in the repeat. But this kind
of thing should be sparingly attempted in hymn-singing
and expression^ i.e. following the words with piano
and forte is quite alien to congregational singing. The
hymn for S. Bartholomew, in Old Hymns Ancient and
Modern (No. 419), is a poor composition, but it is made
worse by the musical directions :
mf Was it he, beneath the fig-tree
Seen of thee and guileless found . . . ?
p None can tell us ; (cr) all is written
In the Lamb's great book of life.
1 " Hollingside," the melody to which we sing this hymn in England,
seems to me one of the best specimens of Dyke's work. His emotional
style well suits the words.
2 Welsh musicians do not despise the old tonality.
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
75
CAERSALEM. (87.87.47.)
In moderate time & = 80.
Welsh Hymn Melody.
=r* T=\
i 1_ 71
A A A i A
1 1 1 a
_g g^=d=j
S P & P
l<
Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land ;
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand :
Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more.
Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow ;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through :
Strong Deliverer,
Be thou still my strength and shield.
76 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The aggravation to the cultured ear of such a vulgar
rendering of the hymns is almost intolerable. Old Hymns
Ancient and Modern was responsible in 1875 f r introducing
the expression marks which the new edition has wisely
abandoned.
We now come to the Folk-song tunes, either boldly
taken and set to sacred words or adapted for this purpose.
Until the English Hymnal appeared little use had been made
of Folk-song by compilers of English hymn-books, 1 whilst
in Germany the greatest musicians have turned to the songs
of the people for inspiration in their Church music. Two
circumstances brought about this new departure ; the English
Hymnal is the only important hymn-book which has
appeared since the modern interest in Folk-song arose, and
Dr. Vaughan Williams, its musical editor, is one of the
chief pioneers of this fascinating branch of music, and one
of the founders of the Folk-song Society. Probably most
of my readers know of this society, and the excellent work
it is doing in searching the villages of England for the old
melodies which linger there often from ages long past, but
which now are rapidly disappearing before that dead
levelling process which is reducing every district and every
country to the same pattern, and which seems to be
inseparable from our modern civilization. We cannot be
too grateful that we live in an age when travel is easy,
whilst the perfection of communications has not yet
destroyed national and racial customs, and brought the
world to a grey and dull uniformity ; our children and
grandchildren will not be so fortunate.
But we are wandering too far from our subject, to
which we must now return. There are certain characteristics
1 The fairly well-known tune " Stella" seems to be Folk-song.
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG 77
which make Folk-song suitable for hymns of a mission
character and for the Catechism. In the first place, their
popularity is beyond question ; their very existence proves
this. For no tune could exist, handed down from singer
to singer for generations, unless it possessed the qualities
which made for popularity, and these qualities lie chiefly in
rhythmical form and tonality. The rhythmical form of
Folk-song is too intricate a subject for discussion, 1 but its
tonality comes as something of a surprise. In spite of the
enormous influence of art-music, by which it has been
surrounded for centuries, it has refused to be bound by
the dual system of major and minor. Whilst about two-
thirds of collected Folk-songs is in the major, the other
third is divided equally between the First, the Seventh,
and the Ninth Modes (the last being the Second Mode
transposed). And the fact that so many melodies are in the
major does not prove that they are modern. For, as we
have seen, the major is the Ionian, or Thirteenth, Mode ;
it was freely used for secular music in mediaeval times, and
dubbed the " Lascivious Mode " because of its associations.
Finally, the melodies are generally non-harmonic that is,
composed without reference to harmony so that nothing
is sacrificed melodically, as in Modern Music, for the sake
of harmonization.
When, therefore, you take a Folk-song melody and
either set it or adapt it to a hymn, you are sure, in any
case, of getting a popular tune ; if it is a modal tune you
get, in addition, a melody with a markedly religious character,
derived from the tonal association ; and, finally, you have a
1 It is perhaps worth noting that the rhythmical formula of the Plain-
song " O Lux beataTrinitas " and the ancient German melody " Es 1st ein'
Ros' entsprungen " is in each case A A B A, very common in Folk-song.
78 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
tune which often almost refuses to be harmonized, and
which is, therefore, a congregational tune rather than one
for performance by a choir.
These, I believe, were the considerations which led
Dr. Vaughan Williams to include a number of Folk-song
melodies in the English Hymnal there called " English
Traditional Melodies" and experience has shown that his
speculations were correct. For in every case with which I
am acquainted, where a fair trial has been made, the popular
tunes which are bad have faded away before the popular
tunes which are good. And with regard to their modality
Mr. Cecil Sharp says in his book, English Fo/^-song, " Culti-
vated people, who have been brought up on Modern
Music, will only acquire the art of modal singing 'with
effort and difficulty ; to many of them the Gregorian tones,
with their flattened sevenths and unexpected intervals, will
never sound natural or convincing. On the other hand, the
congregations of village churches will take to Plainsong
much more readily, and to the manner born. For the
Gregorian tones are their own scales, in which for genera-
tions past their forbears have been accustomed to sing.
The flattened seventh possesses no terrors for the country
singer. The leading note is much more likely to cause
him difficulty. Who has not heard the village organist
struggling to force the sharpened seventh, especially of
tunes in the minor mode, upon the unwilling ears of a
rustic congregation ? "
Our first example is a pretty little tune set to a funeral
hymn for babies. Notice the rise of an octave between
the first and second line ; this is a favourite interval in
Folk-song. (E. H., No. 355.)
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
79
HAMBRIDGE. (76.76.)
In moderate time 9 = 1-0.
English Traditional Melody.
ne3 f .. - P? no
im Q' T=^a=jgF=i-
:4=zM-^b^3^
IL p _ ~?-f^
! I
In Paradise reposing,
By life's eternal well,
The tender lambs of JESUS
In greenest pastures dwell.
There palms and tiny crownlets,
Aglow with brightest gem,
Bedeck the baby martyrs
Who died in Bethlehem.
8o HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
On the opposite page is a beautiful melody in the
Ninth Mode. Its rhythmical formula is the favourite
A A B A (E. H., No. 574).
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG 81
KINGSFOLD. (D. C. M.)
1,1 moderate tiine& = SO.
From an English Traditional Melody.
I i-ll
Lj^J-J-J-J^J^^ap^J^gfca-
- "^^EPPFFT
tf=ei
^& \ \ i ^r ^^j 1-
_^^ 4 1 ^ --M I I I
-ir^^F^ &- ^Q^^Q
"
715^
~
I heard the voice of JESUS say,
" Come unto me and rest ;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon my breast " :
I came to JESUS as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad ;
I found in him a resting-place,
And he has made 'me glad.
82 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Two Folk-songs from Somerset, adapted to the " Story
of the Cross " (E. H., No. 656).
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
BRIDGWATER. (64.63. D.)
In moderate time J = 100.
PARTS 1, 2, and 5
Adapted from nn
English Traditional Melody.
pfrffrrr
See him in raiment rent,
With his Blood dyed :
Women walk sorrowing
By his side.
Heavy that Cross to him,
Weary the weight :
One who will help him stands
At the gate.
LANGPORT. (64. 63. D.)
In moderate time m = 100.
Adapted from an
English Traditional Melody.
f^-f-r'^-p^-r-f-
rr
-8-
On the Cross lifted up,
Thy face I scan,
Scarred by that agony
Son of Man.
r
Thorns form thy diadem,
Rough wood thy throne,
To thee thy outstretched arms
Draw thine own.
84 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
For freshness and vigour " Monk's Gate," adapted by
Dr. Vaughan Williams from a Folk-song melody, is hard to
beat. In the English Hymnal it is set to Bunyan's hymn,
" He who would valiant be " (No. 402), but I have
ventured to set words to it suitable for the platform at
Church meetings one is getting a little tired of the
inevitable "The Church's one Foundation" and "Aurelia."
This hymn was first sung at the great meeting of protest
against Welsh Disestablishment in the Albert Hall, at the
beginning of 1912, and has been used on several similar
occasions since ; it is an attempt to mate a text to the
spirit of the music. In singing this tune for the first time
be careful to catch the rhythm on which the vigour of the
tune depends, then the stirring lilt will soon carry away
a great meeting into enthusiasm.
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
MONKS GATE. (1111.1211.)
Brightly J = 112.
Adapted from an
English Traditional Melody.
r
,^-j-
r ~r f r~r
Sons of the Church, arise !
Shoulder to shoulder ;
Loud ring the battle-cries,
Be but the bolder.
Let not your eyes be dim,
Face ye the foemen grim,
Strike hard, and strike for him,
CHRIST our Upholder.
Sons of the Church, arise !
Her need most sore is ;
When men our strength despise
That strength the more is.
CmusT-Bride of heavenly might,
Mother of grace and light,
None shall do thee despite,
CHRIST'S our Upholder.
Sons of the Church, arise !
Faint not nor falter !
In our safe-keeping lies
Our country's altar,
By many a saintly hand
Reared in our dear, dear land,
Stand, sons of England, stand !
CHRIST'S our Upholder.
Take from our country, LORD,
Strife and confusion ;
Let love and sweet accord
Be our conclusion ;
May we win both the day,
And those who us bewray,
That all may honour pay
To our Upholder.
86 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Lastly, let us take the famous Agincourt ballad, printed
on the opposite page. A solemn tune in the First Mode,
it is well fitted for liturgical use, and is given in the English
Hymnal as an alternative to the Plainsong for the office
hymn for All Saints (E. H., No. 249).
" Mediaeval melody," writes the present accomplished
musical editor of the Times, " melody pat excellence, is
independent of harmony, though it can be harmonized.
It is to be distinguished from monody, which is melody
determined largely by the sequence of the harmonies.
There is a well-founded idea that modal tunes are more
virile in character than the others." An examination of the
Folk-song tunes which I have given will enable my readers
to verify this, and will, I hope, convince them of the useful
part these melodies can take in congregational Church
Music.
WELSH TUNES AND FOLK-SONG
DEO GRACIAS. (L.M.)
Moderately slow ^ 92. To be sung in unison.
English Melody, 15th cent.
-0 E2.
-,-|Q_l: 1_Q - 22 - 1
r
r r
J.
I I ' ' 1
[T |"L ~[ L ~
H^C> r if 3 ^r
P"
p- 1
Jesu, Salvator saeciili.
9th Century, Tr. T. A. L.
For souls defaulting supplicate
All orders of the Angel state,
The Patriarchs in line to thee,
The Prophets' goodly company.
For souls in guilt ensnared pray
The Baptist, herald of thy way,
The wielder of the heavenly keys,
The apostolic witnesses.
VIII
THE SEQUENCES
WE pass, finally, to the Sequences. Historically and
liturgically there is a wide difference- between hymns
and sequences, though the latter gradually approached the
former, as we shall see, and the two are mingled together
in our modern hymn-books.
To understand fully what a sequence is we must trace
the history of the earliest liturgical chants. We have
already seen that hymns first won a recognized place in
the choir services in the sixth century, but were not then
admitted into the Liturgy or Mass. In the Mass, however,
there were from an early date certain prose anthems, varying
with the seasons and festivals. Two of these were sung in
succession between the Epistle and the Gospel ; the first
is known as the Gradual^ the second as the Alleluya. The
Gradual is of Apostolic, or at least sub-Apostolic origin ;
it originally consisted of an entire psalm, sung by the
lector, with a congregational refrain, 1 and was then called
the Psalmus responsorius. It was abbreviated and took its
present form, or something very like it, between A.D. 450
and A.D. 550, and at the same time was enriched with its
elaborate melismatic music. The Alleluya chant was
introduced into the Roman Mass by Pope Damasus
(A.D. 368-84) at the advice of S. Jerome, from the East,
where it had long been a feature in the Liturgy of
1 See S. Augustine, Sermon i 76.
THE SEQUENCES 89
Jerusalem. Just as the Gradual has been shortened so
the Alleluya has been lengthened, and now consists of the
Alleluya, a verse, generally from Holy Scripture, and the
Alleluya repeated ; from the first the music has been
highly melismatic. From very early times it had been
the custom to prolong the melodies to which the Alleluya
was sung by long cadences extending over groups of
neums, called a jubilus or a sequentia. On the next page
is the end of an Alleluya chant with its jubilus, sung to
the last vowel. 1
S. Augustine alludes to this practice in his exposition
of the Ninety-ninth Psalm, " He who sings a jubilus speaks
no words ; it is a song of joy without words ; it is the
voice of a heart dissolved with joy . ... its joy is too great
to put into words." S. Jerome says, " By the term jubilus
we understand that which neither in words, nor syllables,
nor letters, nor speech, is it possible to express or com-
prehend, namely, how much man ought to praise GoD." 2
Rupert of Deutz in. the twelfth century says, "We jubilate
rather than sing, and extend a short syllable over several
neums or groups of neums, in order that the spirit may
be moved by the beautiful sounds, and may be led thither
where the saints in glory shout for joy, where everlasting
life prevails, and where there is no death. "3 And Durandus
in the thirteenth century adds, " In speech the Alleluya
is short, but in the neum it is long, for that joy is too
great to be expressed in speech," thus echoing what
S. Augustine and S. Jerome had said nine hundred years
before.
1 An entire Alleluya chant, following a Gradual, is to be found on
pages 891-94 of the musical edition of the English Hymnal.
2 In Ps. xxxii. 3 f j) e dfy'tnis Offidis, 1.35.
90 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
In the eighth and ninth centuries this fashion reached
its height, and following the Gregorian jubilus at the end
of the Alleluya chant a second jubilus was added, a separate
composition from Byzantine sources. Opposite is a speci-
men of one of these Byzantine melodies. Its origin is lost
Two clerks.
Chorus.
i
w i
Q
irt A
i
S
*"
iT"
%
Al-le - lu
in obscurity, but it is quite possibly a secular tune from
Constantinople ; it is called " Puella turbata," or " The
Distressed Damsel."
The difficulty now arose of remembering melodies of
such intricacy and such prodigious length, for only the
first feeble attempts at a musical notation had been made
THE SEQUENCES
9 1
at the time, and no stave had been even thought of. Some
monks of Jumieges seem to have hit upon the idea of
PUELLA TuRBATA.
b
n >
' . V rfL
3 *
.* -Hi J !li
. i 4 ^
*
1. Al
le - lu - ia 3
-E
: j
33:
^^F^
- -
16
17
writing words for these long melodies, so that each note
should have its syllable. This experiment was taken up
92 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
and developed by Notker Balbulus, a monk of S. Gall
(A.D. 840-912). Thus was born the Sequence, called also the
Prose, because as it came from Notker's hand it was a
rhythmical but non-metrical composition ; so by the irony
of fate the jubilus, " the song of joy without words," fell
into words through the very weight of its extraordinary
development.
Neale's translation of Cantemus cuncti melodum, " The
strain upraise of joy and praise," is a well-known specimen
of Notker's work in English. 1 This was strictly syllable
to note to fit the melody " Puella turbata." Neale
followed the syllables of the sequence, but unfortunately
tailed to reproduce the caesuras and the rhythm. The
translation cannot be sung, therefore, to the original music.
The Byzantine melodies consisted of successive phrases,
each of which was sung through twice. After words had
been put to all these melodies, new sequences were con-
structed in which both the words and the melodies were
original compositions. The Victimae paschali, given on
pp. 95-7, is an early instance of this type. But always,
as will be noticed, following the original custom, the com-
position is made up of successive musical phrases repeated,
so that the sequence consists of pairs of parallel lines, or
stanzas, often of varying length. 2 Even in the very latest
sequences, where the metre was as regular as the stanzas
of a hymn, the music kept the binary form. The Victimae
paschali is generally ascribed to Wipo, a Burgundian secular
1 E. H., No. 494 ; H. A. and M., No. 2550. E., No. 328 N. E.
It is now held to be a doubtful work of Notker's, but there is nothing of
his undoubted composition (such as Lauda Safoatori, given in the Hymner)
easily accessible to my readers.
2 In some cases the sequence leads off with a single phrase, and
then falls into its pairs.
THE SEQUENCES 93
priest, and chaplain to the Emperors Conrad II and Hein-
rich III, in the second quarter of the eleventh century.
It is one of the five sequences retained by the Roman
Church after the reform of the service-books in the six-
teenth century. 1 The melody is arranged in the following
parts :
Verse i.
Verses 2 and 3.
Verses 4 and 5.
Verses 6 and 7.
Verses 8 and 9.
It is really a little music drama, 2 and is still often sung
with a certain amount of dramatic expression, the question
(verse 4) being put by a man's voice, Mary's answer
(verses 5, 6, and 7) given by a boy's voice, and the full
choir coming in at verse 8. The sequence is in Modes
i and ii.
We talk of" The Easter Hymn " i.e. " JESUS CHRIST
is risen to-day." Words and tune, as now sung, are scarce
1 The others are Stabat {Mater (E. H., No. I 15), Veni Sancte Spiritus
(E. H., No. 155), Lauda Syon (E. H., No. 317), and Dies irae (E. H.,
No. 351).
2 The sequence was introduced into the Quern quaeritis and when
so sung the whole formed a little sacred opera after the Third Nocturn at
Matins, concluding with the Te Deum. Three boys, dressed in albes
with amices over their heads, represented the three Maries, and as they
advanced up the choir the precentor would ask, " Die nobis, Maria,
quid vidisti in via?" ("Speak, Mary, declaring, etc.") Then they
would reply, " Sepulchrum Christi, etc." From this tiny seed, and not
from the classical stage, which had perished centuries before (for the
extraordinary plays of Hrosvitha can hardly be considered a serious link
with the past), has grown the drama of to-day ; first the miracle plays,
then the moralities, such as Everyman. From these it was but a short step
to a play like Marlowe's Dr. Fausfus, and thence began the modern
stage.
94 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
a hundred years old (the melody is good of its kind,
though its extended compass forces the unfortunate con-
gregation up to F# with dire results !). Meanwhile,
until the publication of the English Hymnal, the triumphant
sequence which Western Christendom has associated with
Easter for centuries was almost totally neglected.
THE SEQUENCES
95
Ascribed to Wipo, c. 1030. Tr. cento.
Victimae Paschali.
1
"
1 Chris-tians, to the Pas - dial Vic - tint Of - fer your thank - f ul prai - ses !
-^
-G>- -jg-^ -G>-
r=f=rf
j- j
fez=:-.=22
r^ r-rr
g~r o pcq
r^ ' ^ i '
2 A Lamb the sheep re - deem - eth : Christ, who on ly is sin - less,
3 Death and life have con - tend - ed In that com - bat stu - pen - dous :
J=J:
i i i
?=rrf
s= F=f
J_J ,_gj J-J J-J-
V g
r^^
Re - con - cil - eth sin-ners to the Fa - ther ; 4 Speak Ma - ry, de - clar - ing
The Prince of Life, who died, reigns im -mor -tal.
5*=p=^
H^-^J-4-
r rr.
j
ziai
I ^p-
96 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
What thou saw - est way - far - ing : 5 ' The Tomb of Christ,
m
--% g r*
f I f f
-~1 -
2
T-
who is liv - ing, The glo - j-y of Je - su's Ee - sur - rec - tion :
6 Bright an - gels at - test . ing, The shroud and nap - kin rest - ing
i^
T~^r-
THE SEQUENCES
97
s
7 Yea, Christ my hope is a
4
ris - en : To Ga - li lee he
-* " Pm
E
-
goes be - fore you." 8 Hap - py they who hear the wit - ness, Ma - ry's
0. Christ in - deed from death is ris - en, our new
I it iii
r
1 11- i- L
^ *v \ &-
A A J. j. j.
v ,Q fj ^ -
3
fl
B H i *l
Ik m
word be - liev - ing A - bove the tales of Jew - ry de - ceiv . ing.
life ob - tain. ing. Have mer - oy, vie -tor King, ev - er reign - ing !
98 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
The sequence, Laetabundus (E. H., No. 22) is a musical
composition of the highest technique in the Seventh and
Eighth Modes transposed ; the melodic figures are pecu-
liarly graceful and admirably conjoined and balanced ; the
contrasts too between the pairs of verses are exceedingly
well managed. The unknown composer, who probably
lived before the time of the Norman Conquest, had nothing
to learn from us in melodic construction.
THE SEQUENCES
99
Christmas Sequence, and Office Hymn for Candlemas,
lli/t cent, or earlier. Tr, cento.
. " p. -
1
J_
i
s
1 Come re - joic - ing, Faith - ful men, with rap . ture sing - ing
2 Mon - arch's Mon - arch, From a ho - ly mai - den spring ing,
Mfc
Al - Je
Migh - ty
lu - ya ! 3 An, gel of the Coun - sel here,
won - der ! 4 He a sun who knows no night,
it =^~Q=
==&=&;
_J _J_^2 J r? -si-el A **
Sun from star, he doth ap - pear, Born of mai - den :
She a star whose pa - ler light Fad - eth ne . ver.
r
_C2
ioo HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
1 PI
n . p_
as LEI
1
5 As a star its kind-red ray, Ula - ry doth her Child dis-play,
Still un - dimmed the star shines on, And the mai - den bears a Son,
r r
1
p.
i
.*
.
'%
Like
Pure
na - ture
e - ver.
7 Le - ba - non his ce
8 From the high - est, him
Uar
tall
name
-
| |
Pi
1
%*k
1
*
D
To the
Word of
i n if . I* i
liys
God,
- sop
to
on
hu
the wall Low
- man frame Now
- ly bend -
de - scend -
eth;
eth.
|g;
^
- r^i
i i-
=f
^
a= l i r
S=S-~:
1
II
f
t-+ cr
rr
-ti
^ ri..
-&
-G*- -
U&M
r^r
ev & cy cji ^ tv ^
rrQ5?*-
|-rJ F^!
-5/-
"P"
. jj
" r il
(Wi
-#-^-
-&
-A-^-
" g
X3 <^3
^=^ 8 :
-U
I)
r r f
THE SEQUENCES
101
i
9 Yet the syn-a-gogue de-nied What B - sai - as had de - scried:
10 If her pro- phets speak in vain, Let her heed a Gen - tile strain,
fi
?
a '
fl. !. . -
And, from mys - tic
Sy - bil, gain Light and lead - ing.
-JZ & ~^ e^zj__ei_^z
11 No long - er then de - lay, Hear what the Scrip - tnres say,
12. Turn and this Child be - hold, That ve - ry Son, of old
102 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
Mi
"
ISP
Why be cast a - way A rase for - lorn ?
In God's writ fore - told, A maid hath borne.
" hr> " &
TT r ^r
-o E 2 -
r
THE SEQUENCES 103
The greatest writer of metrical sequences was Adam of
S. Victor (c. 1 1 50). The English Hymnal and Hymns Ancient
and Modern, new edition, have each translations of some of
these sequences set to modern hymn tunes. The awful
and majestic Dies irae, though originally a non-liturgical
poem, is generally considered the finest sequence ever
written. Its author is believed to have been Thomas of
Celano, the friend and biographer of S. Francis of Assisi
(thirteenth century). The music is an exceedingly solemn
melody in the First and Second Modes, not strictly in
sequence form, being in threefold, instead of twofold,
groups.
The texts of sequences gradually fell from the rhyth-
mical into the metrical form, and became almost indis-
tinguishable from hymns, though the melodies to the end
maintained the peculiar characteristics of the sequence.
Veni^ Sancte Spiritus, ascribed to Stephen Langton (twelfth-
thirteenth century) called the " Golden Sequence " (E. H.,
Nc. 155; H. A. and M., No. 184 N. E.) is entirely in
hymn form.
At last a hymn, Jesu dulcis memoria, was taken and
sung as a sequence. The melody in Modes v and vi of
the "Rosy Sequence" (E. H., No. 238) is apparently of
English origin, and is only found in the printed Sarum
graduals of 1527, 1528, and 1532. Though still Plainsong,
and to be sung as such, no strict time-value being given to
the notes, it betrays its late origin by the leading notes,
indicative of the period when musicians were being
profoundly influenced by the ever-growing tide of
harmony. It is a sweet and beautiful melody ; verse 6,
with its initial descent and the elaboration of its last
line, is extraordinarily effective, though for liturgical
IO4
music perhaps a little too emotional in its appeal. With
this latest development of the sequence we may fitly
conclude.
io 5
THE ROSY SEQUENCE. (L. M.)
In free rhythm J = 112. To be sung in unison. Sarum Gradual, 1527, 1528, and 1532.
9 9
:p
=tr
S
2 ^ f~j I ^ 9 ^ ^* ^ C3 *
^ -&- -0- -^- -*- ^3~
( Je-su! the ve - ry thought is sweet ! In that dear name . all heart-joys meet ;
( But sweet-er than the ho - ney far The glimp-ses of . . his pre-sence are.
2 No word is sung more sweet than this: No name is heard more full of bliss:
3 Je - su ! the hope of souls for - lorn ! How good to them for sin that mourn !
No thought bringsseet-er corn-fort nigh, Than Je . sus, Son of God most high.
To them that seek thee, O how kind! But what art thou to them that find?
4 Je - su, thou sweetness, pure and blest, Truth's Fountain, Light of souls dis-trest,
5 No tongue of mor-tal can ex - press, No let - ters write its bless - ed - ness :
J-
iz: _:ZZQ:
106 HYMN TUNES AND SEQUENCES
r
Sur- pass-ing all that heart re-quires, Ex-ceed-ing all that soul de- sires!
A - lone who hath thee in his heart
Knows, love of Je - sua ! what thou art. 6 I seek for Je - sus in re - pose,
7 "WithMa-ry in the morn-ing gloom
"When round my heart its cham-bers close ; A-broad, and when I shut the door,
I seek for Je - sus at the tomb; For him, \v ith love's most earn-est cry,
l There is some uncertainty about the exact musical text of this sequence; slight differences
departure irom irue seuuciiuc IULIU LU DU.VOI, UK> hvw9vi i >"i . , , .
composition, I think the descent of verse 5 to the E with which verse 6 commences is probably
intentional, and not a printer's error.
THE SEQUENCES
107
s
T^T*=
-
rr
H 1-
8 Je - sus, to God the Fa - ther gone, Is seat - ed on the heaven-ly throne ;
9. We f ol - low Je - sus now, and raise The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise,
-&-
B-
SEi
* J~*
L Tf
O \K
nay
A
p^-J^J33
My heart hath al-so passed from me, That . where he is there it may be.
That he at last may make us meet With . him to gain the heaven-ly seat.
:=^-f^^=^^^^^-^-7^^^=^~^:\
-r^^T^f- -> Pt^'-
rs
PRINTED BY A. R. MOWBRAY & Co. LTD.
LONDON AND OXFORD
